Dinner and a Show
by Zurizip
Summary: Section Nine is invited, well, required to go to a party hosted in New Tokyo's justopened Refugee center. But everyone gets a little more than they bargined for.
1. Invitation

**This fic was started… dropped because I didn't have any idea what to do with the characters… re thought of while writing drabbles and getting to know the characters… then picked up again in the boredom of x-mas break. It's been though several incarnations and revelations as the characters developed and decided that they were going to write the story, damnit. sigh**

**I'm going to be pretentious and tell you to think of this as… sort of an episode or two of a third season (pray hope wish). There aren't really any spoilers, but it was written to be set a good while (six months) after the second gig ending. **

**In any case, I'm damn proud of what I came up with (surprised too…) so please sit back and enjoy the ride.

* * *

**

Red and white. The Japanese colors, and also the colors that Prime Minister Kayabuki most often wore. The paper was thick and stiff, the front text a loopy bold font in bright red. And in small black characters, the card revealed itself to be an invitation directly to her for the opening of the Refugee Center in downtown New Tokyo. She glanced up to the rest of the members of section nine, all of whom held similar cards and equal expressions of confusion.

"Chief, what the hell is this?" Batou asked, flipping his card between two fingers, "Don't tell me the lady's decided we're her pet poodle now, of all times?"

"This is standard procedure; the prime minister is simply inviting all military sections of the government who have had a hand in refugee politics."

There was a collective sigh in the briefing room. "So that means we don't have to go," Ishikawa said.

"On the contrary, we are required to go." Somehow, he managed to say it with a straight face.

This time, there was a collective groan. Togusa grunted. "Says we can bring one guest," he said, then smirked, "my wife'll be glad for an excuse to dress up and go out." Nearly every man gave him a look of venom and the ex-cop shifted under their gazes. "What? It's been awhile."

"Yeah, yeah, shut up," Saito muttered.

"So Chief," Pazu said languidly, "lemme get this straight. We've got a week and a half to clear our schedules…,"

"As if they weren't cleared already," Ishikawa muttered.

"…Get ourselves some swag for the occasion…,"

"Paid for and provided by Section Nine's budget," Arakmaki said.

"…_and _find a date for a Friday night shin-dig?"

"Shouldn't be a problem for you, Pazu," the Major commented, "Get over it." She stood. "This is part of our job now that section nine is fairly well known as a terrorist suppressant. We will all attend," she smirked as Pazu rolled his eyes. "Dates are optional."

"Ah, the benefits of marriage," Togusa said, placing his hands behind his head and giving the bachelors a Cheshire cat grin.

"Quiet," the chief barked as the room burst into murderous mutters. "Now we know your tux sizes, so unless you've changed something in the last four months, get back to work." He glanced at Motoko. "I assume you will be providing your own dress?"

She smirked, "Last time you guys chose a dress for me it was for a sex doll convention. I think I'll be 'providing' for myself."

"Thank god," Bomer muttered. "That was depressing."

* * *

A week and a half was quite enough for Pazu and Saito to find a date; Ishikawa and Bomer to decide they didn't need dates; Arakmaki to phone a lady friend; and Motoko to consider inviting one of her girl friends and then write it off as a bad idea. Saito did suggest once that Batou should try his luck with the Major, but he only did it once. The episode ended in a chuckling Ishikawa saying 'I told you so,' to a grumbling Saito, whose only reply was 'take a check?' However, as they assembled in the briefing room that morning for their orders, a small issue with Togusa arose.

"Look, I know you guys aren't the types," the man said, "but I need a babysitter."

"Take one of the AI's," Batou suggested, and held up his hands defensively when the natural man gave him a look. "What? They could probably handle it!"

"You haven't met my daughter when she's had sugar," Togusa muttered.

Pazu opened his mouth to say something, but the Major interrupted, taking pity on Togusa. "I'll handle the baby sitter," she said, "Some friends of mine owe me a favor."

Togusa eyed the major, "Friend's of … _yours?" _he asked tentatively, and chuckled nervously when Motoko arched an eyebrow. "It's just … well…"

"She's a pediatric nurse at Shisei Hospital," the major said, "and very good at her job."

"It's settled then," the chief interjected before Togusa had a chance to obect. "Now, if everything else is done, you are all dismissed until we are picked up at nineteen-hundred hours."

* * *


	2. Wine

**Oh yeah, no owning. I had too much fun with this part. Read on.**

"You know," Batou commented as he and most of Section Nine stood on the sidelines, "I feel more like I should be protecting this party than attending it."

"Ditto," Ishikawa said, "I'm just glad the drinks are free."

"Well, at least one of us is having fun, anyway," Bomer said, nodding at Togusa and his wife, who were laughing as they danced.

Pazu snorted. "You just had to pluck out a family man, hm, Major?"

"You're just jealous your date wandered off with a bar boy," Ishikawa muttered.

"I've explained my reasons," Motoko said, knowing it would be safer if she simply ignored the peanut gallery, "besides, maybe he'll rub off on you lot. You could use a bit of respectability."

The muffled snorts of mild amusement were barely covered by the music. The room was filled to the brim with dignitaries, military officials, members of all political parties, and several nations worth of diplomats already an hour into party mode from dinner. The meal had been far too long for her tastes, stetching over two hours of speeches, eating and ceremony. Motoko had to admit that the formalities weren't for nothing, the new Refugee center was quite an accomplishment for Prime Minister Kayabuki and her cabinet. Not only that, but the welcoming lobby, where the party was being held, was a beautiful piece of work. Black, white, and green marble covered the floors and clear windows rose to meet a silver and crystal chandelier that, with the help of lamps set into the pillars, lit the room beautifully.

Batou moved next to her, muttering, "Who paid for the chandelier? I know it wasn't the government, that thing is ritzy – even _if _crystal and silver are cake to synthesize these days."

"It's a vintage chandelier from the early 1990's," she said, recalling the pamphlet that she had been given earlier in the evening, "some American pop-star donated it from his house when he went into retirement."

Batou whistled, and it was suddenly echoed very loudly as the sound system squealed. The DJ came over the mike. "Sorry folks! The computer glitched on me – it'll only be a second and we'll get those tunes rolling again." He turned, scratching his head, and disappeared to one of the back rooms.

The dance floor dispersed, Togusa leading his wife back to the stoic members of section nine who were still in the corner. Motoko noticed that the woman looked fairly comfortable, despite the look Pazu was shooting at Togusa.

As if to offset the practically poisonous atmosphere of the corner, Togusa's wife turned to the major, smiling. "Miss Kusinagi, you look amazing! That sapphire blue is really your color, and the beading is exquisite."

Motoko smiled in return, glancing down at the long form-fitting dress. "Thanks, Kumiko, you look lovely too."

Togusa's wife beamed, shifting modestly in her rose ball gown. "Well, I was so happy to be able to fit in it after two children that I couldn't care how out of style it was."

Togusa chuckled, squeezing his wife's hand. "You look wonderful, hon," he said. When she blushed, he looked around. "Hey, where'd Saito get off to?" the man asked, either ignoring or not noticing his comrade's glowers.

"He and his date wandered off to check out the computer guided tours a while ago," Ishikawa said, "They're actually pretty good."

Togusa hummed, and then cocked his head. "Pazu, where's your date? Wandering off with a woman is more your style than Saito's anyway…"

_Togusa must have a death wish this week, _Batou's voice said privately over the net, _Otherwise someone altered his brain to think that his own foot might be tasty._

Motoko smirked, but didn't return the banter, choosing instead to allow Togusa's wife to slide into the role of 'saving the husband from his friends'. "Ishikawa, you said that the computer tours were good?" She took Togusa by the arm, "Come on, honey, it sounds interesting, we can wait for the music to come back on."

Togusa gave his wife a surprised look, but followed her across the room. Motoko just caught her rolling her eyes as they walked away. _Ah, the power of the housewife, _she finally replied to Batou, _ever underestimated…_

_But never to be undermined. Sounds like someone I know._

She flicked her eyes over to find him grinning, and shook her head, several replies coming to her mind but none of them well advised.

There was a pause, filled mostly with the white noise of hundreds of chatting people, and then Batou's real voice cut through by her shoulder. "Say, Major, when the music comes back on…"

He didn't get a chance to finish the sentence, or, she supposed, the question, because several screams pierced the ambient talk, and silence abruptly fell. All those from branches of security were immediately on guard, but Section nine barely had a chance to settle – because Togusa's voice was the only one still talking.

"Kumiko! …Kumiko! Can you hear me? Kumiko, please!"

**I searched and searched and searched, but couldn't find a credible name for Togusa's wife – nobody seems to know (though I think in the English dub the voices for his wife and Miki tachikoma kid are the same… O.o). So I tossed my name into a Japanese name generator and went with that. Apparently it means eternal beautiful child…**


	3. Appetizer

**Proof positive to always read over the stupid stuff yourself or have a beta; I tried to use the comparison 'a knife through hot butter'. Needless to say, it fell through and got edited to the proper analogy. .

* * *

**

People in a crisis naturally moved aside if you looked like you knew what you were doing. The major, without so much as a whispered 'excuse me' parted the crowd like a hot knife through butter, and Batou knew for a fact it had nothing to do with the three men who were with her. Once they got through, though, he almost wished it hadn't been so easy. Togusa knelt on the ground beside his wife, a hand on either side of her face. While just minutes ago he had been relaxed and happy, his face was now broken, desperate. He barely registered the Major kneeling beside him until she said his name sharply the third time.

"Togusa!"

He looked up, finally, and swallowed.

"Major, I-," then he took a breath, glancing down at his wife, and his focus suddenly snapped into place again. "The computer tour requires a partially cyberized brain and snap-port." He said dully, "Kumiko has had the augmentation since shortly after we met."

The major nodded – snap ports and their augmentations were the most common cyberization in Japan. They worked through collars worn around the neck that communicated across the skin with a brain chip that in turn affected the senses. Alone, snap ports were usually used in net surfing for those not always connected, but the collar could also be used to convert different port signals. She glanced over Kumiko's inert body again, noting that the collar was still on her neck… and still active.

"We had just begun the tour when something… else, entered the system. At first it seemed like it was just another tourist, but the next moment it became hostile. I was thrown out of the system, and when I came to…," he looked down, grimacing.

"You weren't able to see the other presence in the system?" Chief Aramaki asked, having come from the other side of the room for the same reason as the rest of the section. Beside him, frowning was Prime Minister Kayabuki.

Togusa shook his head. "The program should have allowed it, but there was no physical presence there, sir."

"There wasn't anyone else connected through the snap ports," Saito said, appearing from behind Batou and the others without his date, "they're all accounted for."

"Look for the DJ," Aramaki said; turning to Kayabuki, "the music glitch and he being gone are too close to be coincidental."

She nodded. "They've already begun the search, and the building has been locked down." She opened her mouth to say something more, but was interrupted when Togusa's wife gasped, her eyes flying open and back arching off the floor in a seizure. Party guests fell back, a few of the women beginning to cry. The major stayed where she was, and the rest of section nine followed her lead as the woman opened her mouth, voice corrupted to a guttural hiss as she spoke.

"The Refugee Center is a disgrace to our country as we back down to the ideals of others! Why do we welcome them with open arms? They should be cast out of this sacred land!"

There was a collective gasp as Kumiko turned her unblinking stare on the prime minister. "By keeping them here, you have defiled the name of the Japanese, and you will suffer… you will all suffer!"

There was another screech, this time from a woman in the back of the crowd. "Victor? Victor!"

People began to back away, as if hacking were a virus contracted by breathing the same air, looking around nervously at each other as they muttered to their various security forces over closed networks that no longer seemed so safe. As their line of sight cleared, they could see another man collapsed in a heap on the floor, one of the American women shouting to him in English. Motoko nodded curtly, and Ishikawa went to check the situation with Bomer following him.

"Wait! What are your demands?" Kayabuki stepped forward, squarely meeting Kumiko's eyes. There was a pause. Then the prime minister gasped, stumbling a step back into Aramaki's arms as a hand went to the bridge of her nose. She grimaced in pain for a moment, and then suddenly relaxed; face more serious as she stood up from the episode.

"What did he say?" Aramaki asked quietly as soon as she had regained her composure. Most of the guests had not noticed the incident in the confusion about the second man dropping to the floor.

"He said…," she swallowed, "he said that he didn't need any demands; if I was smart I would close the center now. He also said that he would disable anyone who tried to leave, and one by one until I was the only one left and had no choice but to do as my pride in my nation tells me."

There were several screams as no less than ten people dropped to the floor just before the revolving doors.

"Trying to leave, no doubt," the major muttered.

"Prime minister," Aramaki said grimly, "it is obvious that this is an emergency situation in which-,"

The prime minister shook her head, effectively cutting the older man off. "No need to give me the speech. I am employing section nine as the highest form of cyber security available."

In spite of the situation, Motoko smirked at the woman's pluck. Then she twisted to look at her team, face serious. "Saito, go try and round up the crowd, if they keep trying to leave we'll have an even bigger problem." She paused and looked at Togusa, who hesitated and then nodded.

"I can go too," he said, voice rasping, "I'll… be all right."

She nodded to him, and the man rose to follow Saito. As they began to shout to the crowd of Party goers, she saw the prime minister join them, her security team in tow. "Pazu, rendezvous with security and get a full report on the building. These computer programs didn't need to be connected to the net – try to find out if it's been rigged or whether there is an outside source at work here. If they've found the DJ, inform me immediately, I have a feeling he has something to do with this."

The man nodded and jogged to the back of the building. She glanced at Batou and the chief, standing around the again inert body of Togusa's wife, and stood up. _Do you think its coincidence that it was someone close to section nine hit first? _she said over the com system.

_It is very likely,_ the chief said. _The computer guided tour seems to have been only a point of entry, and anyone connected at the time might have been targeted_.

_And if I had the choice of whether to hack Togusa or his wife, his wife would be the obvious choice,_ Batou added._ Even if he's not head of a political intelligence agency, he's still got some heavy firewalls courtesy of section nine._

Motoko nodded, arms crossed as she studied Kumiko's face. _What worries me is that her brain is more human than cyber, and even as the wife of a high rank security team, she doesn't have much to hide. Certainly, there's such a thing as serial hacking, and in his message to the Prime minister just now he made it obvious that he wasn't being discerning, but-_

_Major, _Ishikawa interrupted her thought process, his com screen appearing in her line of vision. _We've checked out the people who went down. Whoever's going after them isn't going for information or control – he's trying to deplete their battery by forcefully switching them to auxiliary power. Most of the victims are on extended auxiliary power or connected with someone that can give them power. The collapsing is their bodies suddenly shifting into a high level of power saving._

_But what would power loss do? _Batou asked, _is there another program written in to do something but deplete battery?_

Ishikawa sighed. _You got it, _he said tiredly, _the only other thing the connection's done is program for a hard brain wipe on losing power. _

_It's a surprisingly simple program, _the Chief said, _used in the military for high officials in field combat – but there's a back up file on hand for those with the program that is updated almost daily. Ishikawa, have you tried erasing it?_

_First thing I did; no dice. Bomer's still trying, but it's hard since they're all still connected to the program's source._

Motoko glanced at Togusa's wife again. "I see. The hacker is using her as a base point."

_"_And we can't disconnect her," Batou said, now kneeling by Kumiko's shoulder, a cord plugged into the snap port at her neck, "He's turned off the disconnect protection program."

She sighed. "Well, it couldn't be easy, after all."

_Major, we've found the DJ. You might want to come have a look. _A map of the building appeared on their sensors, a blinking dot indicating a small room in the back.

Motoko glanced up at Aramaki, who nodded. "I will stay and monitor the scene. You and Batou go."

Without a word, they began towards the room on the map.

* * *

**Kayabuki is awesome, and I want to write more of her sometime. **

**Also good to note: Writing this far in the future is obnoxiously complicated – however, the idea for safe disconnect came from my iPod, which is constantly going 'DO NOT DISCONNECT', and I found out why the hard way. :cue static:**


	4. Soup and Salad

"Ugh. What a mess."

Motoko made no reply to Batou's obvious statement but to wrinkle her nose before switching off her sense of smell. The small back room seemed to be the circuit and electronics board for the entire building, and was now also the site of death of the party's DJ. She stepped around the security guards to inspect the body and surroundings. "There's still an active connection," she said, "have you checked brain activity?"

"Yes mamm," one of the guards replied, obviously unwilling to question the authority of someone so calmly inspecting the scene – even if it was a woman. "The man himself is completely dead."

Carefully, Motoko leaned the man forward, revealing the ports embedded in his neck, a cord running from the skin to a snarl of wires in the wall. She replaced him and frowned. "Is the brain damaged?"

"No mamm. He died… well…," the man trailed off, gesturing to the scene a bit helplessly.

"Because of the knife through his chest?" Batou grumbled.

_Quiet,_ the Major's voice said without particular venom, _Pazu, what do you think?_

From his place across the room, Pazu shifted. _Well, since the guy is dead but his net connection is still going, I'd say he was being used as a router._

The major nodded. _Batou?_

_Pazu's right. He's probably either always connected to the net, or was using the net as a source for the music. The hacker entered through him, took over, got here and plugged himself into the computer guide system and killed the guy so he couldn't interfere. Then it was just a matter of waiting for the next curious guest._

Motoko sighed. _All right, Ishikawa?_

_Yeah?_

_Are the victims remotely connected to the net?_

_Yeah, it's a chain. They're linked to Togusa's wife who's linked to the net._

_Can we disconnect them?_

There was a pause from Ishikawa's end. _It'll take a full dive into the source to do it safely – they've all had disconnection protection disabled and connected to the power save._

_So if we enable safe disconnect, we disable power save, _Batou said grimly.

_Major, _Togusa interjected, _they aren't trying to leave any more, but some of the first ones are to dangerously low power levels, and we've just lost seven more. _

_Has the hacker said anything?_

Togusa paused. _No._

She glanced at Batou, and then nodded to herself. "All right, Pazu, you go with this team and sweep the rest of the building. It isn't likely that the hacker is here, but be on your guard." Pazu nodded, the rest of the security guards saluting.

_I think you made an impression, _Batou said dryly as they filed out.

_Obviously, they're too impressionable, _she replied, _Ishikawa, get the site ready, I'm doing a dive once we get back._

_Right. _

Batou stood by the door, gazing at her evenly; waiting for his orders. She glanced at him, sighed, and walked by. "You're with me," she said simply. He nodded and turned to follow, but paused, glancing back at the dead DJ. "Peace, buddy," he muttered under his breath, and flipped the light off, closing the door behind him.

* * *

"Everything's ready," Ishikawa said as soon as the Major and Batou came into earshot. Kumiko had been laid in a more comfortable position, and Ishikawa was bent over a small computer, recognizable as the DJ's old laptop from the band stickers that were splashed over the surface. The snap port now had several wires spilling from it, three connected to the computer, and two hanging out to the back. On the floor were two small piles of cloth.

"What's with the pillows?" Batou asked as he shed his suit jacket, offering a pocket to Motoko, who calmly removed her earrings and gloves.

Ishikawa jerked his head to his left, indicating a little girl crouching next to one of the women who had fallen prey to the terrorist. "I told her some people were going to try and help her mom – and she wanted to do something. Togusa told her that finding some pillows would help."

Several _thunks _and loud cries of dismay; they jerked to look, finding six more guests down. Bomer, Saito, and Togusa split up, going to each victim and guiding their family or friends through the best things they could do to help. After a moment, the hall fell to a doomed quiet again, the only sounds the frightened mumbling and whispering of guests. No one moved, most held on to each other or themselves and hoped. Motoko sighed, looking at all the scared and helpless faces.

"Major." She glanced up at Batou. "We gonna do this?" He gave her a gentle smile.

She nodded. Without discussion, they stepped to their places and lowered themselves to the floor, connecting to the snap port at the same time.

_Major, _Togusa's voice broke in her mind, and she could tell it was a private transmission, if only because of the naked worry in his voice.

_We'll get her back, Togusa._

He paused. _Thank you._

The transmission done, she nodded to Ishikawa. _Let's go, _she said to Batou, and let herself slide into the virtual world.

* * *

As they both materialized into their virtual forms, the hack became obvious. Lines of red light originating from the brain information before them flew out into cyberspace.

"Twenty four," Batou said without preamble, "same as the number of people down. He's sloppy to make the connections so easy to pick out."

"If we can disconnect them from the source, the Hacker won't be able to control their programs."

They made their way to the nearest connection, Motoko pulling up the hard information on it. "If we program each end to loop back on itself once broken, we can fool the hacker into thinking he's still connected. Ishikawa, can you do that for us?"

_I'm on it, just a minute._

"What about safe disconnect?" Batou asked.

"Safe disconnect is so that files being synched over the connection won't be cut off and therefore corrupted." She paused, crossing her arms and frowning. "If we watch the connection and wait for synch breaks, we will decrease the risk."

_Got it, major; coming at you._

Motoko held up a hand, and a file command materialized. She glanced up. "Batou, sever the connection once there's a break, and then stand by for me to activate the loop. If this works, we'll split up and do them all, then tackle the main connection."

Batou nodded bringing up an interruption feed that would disconnect the line. They began to wait, tensed to act as soon as a synch break showed itself. He could read the ending commands of the file, three, two, one, "and break," he said, giving the order. The red cord broke cleanly, and the major immediately stepped in, activating the loop code on the end from the source. The entire operation took twenty seconds, and they waited.

"Ishikawa, report on victims," the Major said after a moment.

_Doesn't seem to be any change, _the older man's voice said, _but I'm pretty removed. Any names on the line you severed?_

"Nah, it's all the same code files," Batou said, leaning over the now looped code, "looks like all the symptoms were being continuously sent over the remote network." He straightened and looked out into cyberspace.

_Just like we thought._

"That's why we had to do this in a dive," the major said, inspecting for herself, "if we had cut a program like this off in the middle, the results would have been disastrous."

"Whoever it is, he's a pretty smart bastard."

"He's thorough, I will give him that," Motoko said flatly, her tone making it firmly known that she was not impressed. Batou couldn't blame her – they'd certainly gone after bigger fish than this. "But not quite enough; Ishikawa, any change?"

_Good news, the American's main power is back up. Bomer is going to run a diagnostic, but it looks like he's out of immediate danger._

Batou grinned. "Guess we're going to need a few copies of that loop code.""Already programmed," Motoko said. "Go around the other side and take them as you find them." She turned, and then glanced over her shoulder, smirking, "It's an odd number now – we'll see who gets to the last one first."

He laughed, "See you there," and they went their separate ways.

* * *

**I am aware that liberties are being taken with describing the virtual world. I don't really have an excuse, so bear with me. For a visual on Batou's virtual form, see: a. your imagination or b. Ripples, Chapter nine. (giggle)**


	5. Pasta With Red Sauce

**Heh. Me the evil.**

Once a rhythm was established, taking the connections apart was fairly quick work. He was able to track the Major's progress as well, and could tell that all the connections were being sent a copy, because their synch breaks came simultaneously. They moved as mirror images of each other, wait, disconnect, loop, wait, disconnect, loop. When they reached the last one – at the same time as he had known they would – he automatically cut the connection and allowed her to loop it. They stood across from each other for a moment, smirking.

"Come on," she finally said, "we've still got to take down the original."

He nodded, following her to the scarlet column that personified the hacker's connection to Kumiko.

"Ishikawa, give me everything you can on this connection."

_Near as I can tell, you can do basically the same thing you've been doing – maybe just on a bigger level – but I don't see any traps on my end._

"Neither do I…" the Major said.

"And that's what worries me," Batou finished for her, peering down both ways of the red.

"If we loop the information, the hacker might be alerted, and we won't be able to trace him," the major mused.

"If we don't loop it, there's a good chance the connection will reestablish itself."

"You're right," she said. "All right, I'm going to step in and redirect the connection to myself during a synch break. Batou, break it off behind me and place the loop."

"Got it," he said, flashing a thumbs up, "be careful."

"Of course," she replied, smiling, and placed a hand on the cord, sinking it in at the first break in code and shifting so that she stood in its path. Batou watched for a moment to make sure that the beginning had not held any surprises, and then went to work behind her, breaking off the connection and creating a loop, like cauterizing a wound. Once done, he sat back, watching the virtual representation of the major. She was stock still, eyes staring straight ahead. He shrugged, unworried – this was normally how a trace went. Checking Kumiko, he found that the scarlet line that had been the end he cut was slowly dissipating, and nodded in satisfaction. Then his gaze returned to the major.

She was twitching. He frowned, something tickling the back of his mind. This couldn't be good. He had done traces before with her, and while sometimes they took this long if it was done remotely, he couldn't remember her ever twitching.

"Ishikawa, are you in contact with the major?" Silence. "Ishikawa?"

Still silence. Batou swore; the hacker had cut them off. That could only mean that there was something coming down the line. He lightly touched the connection, checking the length for a trap – there it was, far down the line, an offensive firewall. He checked it and immediately came back to himself, swearing again. "Major!" he said loudly, trying to bring her back to herself.

There was no answer. He spat a curse, going back to check the firewall, and found it moving toward them rapidly. He knew that she was on the other side – he could have gone through it too, if he had wanted. But from here, he couldn't disable it, and Ishikawa probably didn't even know what was going on. The major wouldn't know anything about it until the firewall hit her virtual self, and from the looks of it, it would probably fry her brains. It was coming at them, and there wasn't shit he could do about it.

"Ishikawa!" he tried again, this time reaching out electronically to try and find the barrier that was keeping him from transmitting to the hacker. There was no answer, and he couldn't get far without being reminded of Motoko sitting in the line of fire. He checked the barrier's progress – too close, and getting closer.

"Shit." He couldn't just sever her – the barrier would probably continue on and hit them anyway. Besides, he was pretty sure her ghost was behind that wall – and likely was right behind the barrier. It would do a number on her cyber brain though, and section nine would need her and the information she had on the trace…

More than they needed him. He growled, well, there was nothing for it. There was a synch break, and he stepped in to face her, barely feeling the programs seep through his brain to go through her and finally disappear into the loop. The first codes hailing the attack barrier came up, and he quickly set up all the barriers he could think of – knowing it wouldn't be enough to save him.

Well, that wasn't the point. As many preparations as he could make done, he tried to relax, virtual eyes resting on the Major's personified form. He smirked, almost sorry that brain data was always represented differently on the net. He sighed, shaking his head. If this didn't kill him, she certainly would once he clawed his way back to the real world.

He felt the surge in offensive code, and knew there was only a moment left before the attack slammed into both of them. He reached forward, pulling the virtual body to him – more for his own comfort than her protection. As he did, several alarms went off in his mind – his own barriers were coming down like rice paper to fire. A brief thought said that he really might not make it, and he leaned down, more alarms going off.

"Sorry, Motoko," he whispered, and knowing it was stupid, he gently pressed his lips to hers as the barrier swept over them.


	6. Salmon With Pomegranate and Saffron

Her ghost returned to a strange sensation. She was being _kissed_. It wasn't a bad feeling; in fact, she was not at all adverse to it. Confused, she moved a hand to see who was holding her so – and found the familiar feel of Batou's ghost around her. Before she had a chance to react to that though, alarms rang shrill and insistent in the background. Her eyes snapped open and she gasped to find no one there, though she could just see the twinkling of a recently vacated virtual body.

"Ishikawa!" she called to the space, "Report!" She refused to think about the feelings the virtual data had manifested – it could have been a result of the barrier she had gone through earlier.

_Major! Are you two all right? I lost contact and an A-class attack barrier just went through a moment ago. From the looks of it, it would have done more than its share of damage even on you._

"I'm fine." She paused, a small worm of fear manifesting itself. "Do you have an output for Batou?"

There was a pause. _Major, his data introverted a second ago… I can't be sure, but I think he might have taken a hit from that barrier._

The worm turned into a rope, one hand clenching into a fist. From what Ishikawa had said, she had still been connected when the barrier hit – which could only mean that she was still here because Batou wasn't. She cursed silently.

"Ishikawa! I'm coming back. Get Togusa, Pazu and Saito – I know where the hacker is, but he won't be there for long."

_Got it, _Ishikawa replied, and she closed her eyes, returning to her physical body.

As soon as she opened her eyes, she rolled over and pulled the dive cord from the back of her neck, reaching out and taking out Batou's as well. If he was on introverted data, she wouldn't need to worry about disjointed files.

"Major?" Togusa's voice asked from behind her, but she ignored him, grimly connecting herself to Batou… and gasped, disengaging almost as quickly.

She cursed, dropping the wire to support herself on the cold tile, breathing heavily. She had her answer though, Batou had defiantly protected her from the tracing trap – his cyber brain was a tangled web of static still in the midst of the attack.

"Major, are you alright?" Chief Aramaki asked, crouching down beside her. She grimaced.

"In a vague sense of the word, yes," she replied. "I have the hacker's location," she sent him a set of coordinates and directions, "Send Pazu, Saito, and Togusa, and tell them to be careful – whoever it is, they've got military attack barriers and hack techniques - they might know what they're doing."

"What about you?"

She frowned, gaze falling on an unmoving Batou. "Batou took an attack barrier for me," she said shortly, "I need to make sure that he isn't in immediate danger after the initial offensive."

Aramaki glanced over at the cyborg, face suddenly grim, and then stood up. "All right, They can handle acquisition without you. But as a main observer to his technique I need you when we get to interrogation."

She nodded, ignoring several curious gazes of relieved party guests as she lay down again, connecting to Batou. Ishikawa reached to move the computer connection, she shook her head. "Don't bother," she said, "I can do this alone – help Kumiko and the others recover."

There was a long pause, Ishikawa frozen with his hand out. She knew that the older man knew both her and Batou well enough to guess that there was more than a wish for him to help others behind her insistence to go alone. But he didn't show it when he finally nodded. "Be careful," he said, and she couldn't help but recall that those were also Batou's last words to her. They seemed so different coming from Ishikawa, though. Frowning, she forced herself from sentimental ideas, and closed her eyes.

She didn't require a full dive to see the damage the barrier had inflicted. It wasn't the damage that worried her though; she knew that a reset would repair most of it, or get it to a point where he could repair it. But he couldn't do anything because the barrier had forced him to retreat inward and then trapped his ghost in reversed barriers.

She knew that the alternative would have been a ghost hack or even elimination, and considering the circumstances he was either good or lucky.

Probably a bit of both; she had come back just as the barrier was ending its pass and taken the last bit of it on her dummy barrier. She frowned, not wanting to dwell on the fact that it had been her return that had pushed the barrier along. In a roundabout way, she was responsible for this ghost trap Batou was caught in. Brushing the barriers that had been erected, she realized that they were slowly closing in and growled. Not only was he trapped, but the space was getting smaller, and no doubt he was still too stunned to do anything about it.

Forcing herself to be calm, she reached in to try and at least halt the barrier's advance.

Nothing. She'd have to disable the barrier itself first.

And to do that, she'd need either a lot more time… or a code. And no doubt, if the hacker had the wall – he also knew the door.

One of the security guards hardly registered that section nine's major had gotten up before she had grabbed his gun and disappeared.

Bomer looked up as she went by, Ishikawa catching a glimpse as well. She was out the door before he could get a word out though.

_Togusa, you guys got the bastard yet?_

Togusa's voice was tinted with surprise as he replied, _No, not yet – we had a little trouble with some security AI in the building._

_Hurry up – I'll come on a different route, but I need that hacker pronto!_

She was almost to the door of the building – a typical business tower across from the new center – when a crash and several shot made her look up. Glass shot out from a top floor, sparkling in the city lights like spring rain. A figure jumped out, spreading its arms wide.

_Major! He jumped out the window!_

She didn't reply, something constricting her thought processes… whoever it was, they were plummeting towards the ground with no signs of stopping. In the part of her mind that was still processing properly, she dully realized that he was going to kill himself rather than let them take him in. He was probably a perpetrator with nothing to lose.

Well. _She _had something to lose. Grimacing, she planted her feet and jumped at the falling man, slamming into him from the side. Midair, she twisted around to land hard on her feet, contact cracking the pavement beneath her. She grunted and threw the man in her arms to the ground harshly, kneeling on his chest as he coughed and sputtered, cursing her blindly.

"You bitch!" he mumbled over broken teeth, "Let me die," he coughed, "with honor!"

She punched him, sending his head back into the pavement. "Normally I'd grant your wish to die still in the glory of your exploits with relish, but you have something I want."

He opened a bruised eye, looking at her properly for the first time. She met his gaze fiercely, lips tight, and his good eye widened. "You're...," he gasped, "oh God, you're the one I felt." He paused. "But I set that trap for you… why're you…"

Another pause, and then he began to laugh, body shaking beneath her hands with mirth. "That other one! He- oh this is too much!" the hacker continued to giggle like a madman, Motoko quickly losing patience.

_Nice catch, Major, _Togusa said over the com system. She glanced up, just barely seeing Togusa and Saito's figures leaning out of the tower.

_I'm going in, _she said, yanking the connector cord from her neck, _be ready to take him into custody as soon as I'm done._

_Major, _Saito said, _are you sure you should be doing a dive on that guy? He's got some shiny toys – looks like he knows what he's doing._

_He's also got a reverse firewall ghost trap with Batou in it, _she replied shortly, and immediately felt the silence as the three men took that in, _get the hell down here, I won't be long no matter what happens – we're running out of time._

She didn't wait for their reply, connecting to the man and shoving herself into the tangled web of his thoughts as the hacker continued to giggle, obviously long off the deep end.

For a military man – or at least someone with access to military cyber codes – his barriers were flimsy as hell. She bypassed the man's protective systems with more caution than was necessary, wary of traps, but there weren't any. His brain was practically clean – no mazes, no firewalls, no traps. Only a low grade military barrier – nothing like the ones she had seen during the hack. If she had had more time, she would have snooped for information, but all she bothered to get was his name – the rest could wait as far as she was concerned.

She just needed the codes…. There. Behind a modest wall – easily sidestepped – were codes for erecting each barrier and dismantling it. She frowned. This was too easy… she glanced around. Nothing. For all she could tell, this was the brain of a low ranking military secretary – if that. Even soldiers managed to have better protection than this…

But that didn't matter. Togusa and the others could figure that aspect of this case out. Right now, she had to think about Batou. The firewall that had him trapped seemed to jump forward out of the mass of codes that lay embedded in the man's mind and she quickly copied the files, withdrawing from the man's brain as quickly as she could.

But she paused, halfway out, something catching her eye. "Remnants of a dummy barrier?" she muttered to herself, inspecting the shred of code more carefully. No doubt – whatever it was had been blown almost completely away. She swore – this could be evidence of a ghost hack, and she didn't have time to investigate right now. Filing the information away for later, she pulled out, sitting up in the real world to find Togusa, Pazu, and Saito jogging towards her. She pulled the plug on the connection, idly realizing that her gloves were still in Batou's coat.

"Major! What's going on?" Togusa said in slight frustration, he paused, glancing at her face. "Are you all right?"

She blinked, and then shook her head. "I'm fine. Cuff this guy and keep him stable. There's some evidence of a ghost hack and the main codes for the barriers he used are in that brain of his – we'll need it." She stood, "I'm going back."

None of them protested, the knowledge that she was leaving to help Batou ensuring their silence. As Pazu took a hold of the hacker, she began at a dead sprint back to the refugee center. It had been seven minutes since she had disconnected with Batou and she was starting to think she was dangerously close to being too late.

The thought troubled her far more than she was willing to admit to herself.

She burst into the center again to a much thinner crowd than she had left. The police and security teams had probably cleared out anyone not directly affected or related to those affected. But she didn't bother to check who was still there, and strode to where she knew Batou still lay, staunchly ignoring a guard who tried to get her name and rank.

Aramaki stood over the ex-ranger with the aura of a cranky bird of prey, hands linked behind his back and feet shoulder length apart in parade rest. He nodded as she approached, and she could see Ishikawa's computer hooked to Batou, monitoring his signs. She bit back a sigh of relief, knowing that her greeting would have been different if his ghost had disappeared.

Taking out her connector cord yet again, she gently worked her fingers under his neck, plugging into the port and diving in. The barrier had closed in alarmingly fast in less than ten minutes – she had been right to be worried. As she uploaded the dissolution code to his system, she briefly wondered what would have happened if she had not been able to catch the hacker. If his ribcage and heart had not been prosthetic, he probably would have died merely from the impact of her jump…

She closed her eyes, swiftly severing all lines of thought which lead down that road. It was a dangerous one to travel. Something beeped and clicked – she opened her eyes to find Batou's brain suddenly cleared of all military firewalls. But she knew he wasn't completely out of danger yet – his dummy barriers were all down, and some of his memory caches were probably banged up; to say nothing of the damage the ghost itself had probably suffered. She knew that trap barriers like that were often traumatizing, and his past as a ranger had been as smudged and dirtied as hers with the military.

She allowed herself a quiet sigh, dissolving from the dive and disconnecting herself. Batou, you idiot, she thought, why did you take that for me? She glanced over at him, knowing that there were at least three different answers to the question.

"Major – is he out of danger?"

She looked up in slight surprise having forgotten that the chief was standing over them. "Yes," she replied, standing up and forcing herself to settle, "all signs of the attack barrier are gone. Unfortunately, so are most of his own protective measures." She paused, arms folded tight across her chest as she watched Batou. "He probably won't be up for awhile," she said quietly.

"What about you, are you all right?" the chief asked.

It occurred to her that most everyone was asking her that. She shrugged. "Thanks to him," she said and turned. "I'm going to help Togusa and the others."

Aramaki nodded. "Good. I'll let you know when arrangements have been made for Batou."

She paused, glancing back at the man again; her ruby eyes softer than usual. "Thank you," she said simply, and waved as she went to the front of the building, where police lights flashed like a crooked circus show.

* * *

**I love the image of the Major catching someone midair only to slam them into the pavement and get information from them. It just seems like something she'd do.**


	7. Skip Desert – Straight to the Brandy

**This is the last chapter. Thanks for reading!

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**

"The man was Takehashi Oni, like you suspected Major, formerly in the military." Ishikawa consulted the tablet in his hands as the briefing room screens flashed an army profile. "He was a sergeant during the peninsular war in 2024. Late in the war, he was taken hostage and brutally ghost hacked, and then sent to kill his buddies."

"Did he succeed?" The major asked after a moment of silence.

Ishikawa sighed. "Partially. He killed four out of his unit of twenty, injured six more before another private sacrificed himself to do a brain dive and force a reinitialization."

"Well, that explains his hatred for the refugees," Togusa said, "but why attack the party – there was a refugee representative from each district, sure, but the vast majority were citizens of Japan."

Ishikawa shrugged. "That we don't know – and we couldn't get it out of him. One of the inspectors said he showed signs of schizophrenia and dementia. We do know that he got his firewalls from the military database directly. As an ex-soldier he had the right to get into the facilities, but he shouldn't have been able to find the barriers or copy them."

"There're signs of hacking in the database," Bomer interjected, "but it was skillfully done."

"He's got the resume though," Ishikawa said, "his unit was known as Hack and Slash 29. They would set up raid networks and access enemy databases to find plans, weapons holds and prisoner camps." He shook his head. "I checked everything I could think of, but I couldn't find any larger plans or set-ups. He seemed to have been acting on his own and in desperation."

"A misguided sense of revenge, coupled with an ability to carry it out." Motoko muttered, frowning. "And we were caught in the cross fire.

There was a pause, everyone but the major stealing a glance at the place where Batou would have been – had he not been in a hospital at the time recovering. It had been seven hours since the incidents and while all of the victims, including Togusa's wife, had physically and cybernetically fully recovered, Batou had still not woken up. The screen switched off, the debriefing obviously over, the case closed – for the most part.

The chief didn't even bother to dismiss them. The team allowed the Major out first, but she barely even noticed as they filed out behind her and disappeared. Only Togusa did not exit the building, trying to follow Motoko casually as she made her way to the break room.

She had sat down with a cup of coffee before sighing. "What is it, Togusa?" she asked without looking at him.

He jumped slightly. Logically, he knew that he could never sneak up on her, but he hadn't expected such a sudden question. "I… I wanted to thank you. For saving my wife." He shifted, wishing his conscious had just let him be at peace without having to go through this. "I don't know what I would do without her."

She opened her mouth to reply, and then reheard his words. She closed her mouth, mulling over the thought. "I know what you mean," she said finally, staring out the window. It was six in the morning, cars filling the street like ants below her. She got up, leaving the still steaming coffee to spread fog on the window. "You should go home," she said, and smirked, "Kurutan is probably wondering what's going on."

Togusa bit the inside of his cheek as the major walked past him, obviously distracted. He wouldn't mention that his wife was already at home, the nurse sent home with several large bills, an explanation, and many thanks. His son and daughter were probably still asleep. But the Major's mind was elsewhere. He had a feeling he knew where, but admitting it, even to himself, was probably not the wisest of choices.

When he looked up next, she was gone. Sighing, he dumped her leftover coffee into the sink and threw his coat over his shoulder. It was time to go home and get some proper sleep.

* * *

Getting into the hospital was simple, she needed only mention that she was from section nine and the nurse let her in. Motoko decided that she must have been AI – only a robot – or a very good actress – could have shown her to the room without once giving her dress a second glance; in all the investigation, interrogation and worry, there had been no time or thought to changing. She sighed as she sat down beside Batou's bed, the tortured satin rustling as if it were still new.

Batou's coat was hung on the side of the bed. She wondered who had thought to keep it with him as she fished for her gloves and earrings. They were still in the pockets he had held open for her, gloves clean white and sparkling. She smirked, strange that the gloves had survived the night while her dress was – compared to its former glory – in shambles. The heavy blue satin was wrinkled all over, the bottom in some amount of tatters. Around her knees tiny threads had come out of the fabric and the tiny white beads that decorated it with a sweeping flower patter up one side were coming out.

She sighed, almost sorry. She had liked the dress, as much as she could get attached to clothing. Now she knew it would just remind her of the things that had happened while wearing it. It wasn't like she would have this problem with a normal combat outfit, she thought, just…

She propped her elbow on one knee, resting her chin. She had to admit that she felt guilty that Batou had been forced to take something of this caliber for her, something that could have been prevented, had she really thought about it. She had never seen such a form of offensive firewall – but it didn't give her an excuse. To some extent, it galled her that it had been a crazy ex-military man that had caused all of the trouble, almost like a let-down. Perhaps, if it had been a credible hack, instead of someone using another's tricks, she would feel less responsible.

She smirked. Then again, maybe not.

A machine beeped, and she sat up, glancing at the read out. Still the same. She looked at Batou, wondering how far along in rebuilding his barriers he was. The hospital's wing was completely shielded from the net – it was especially reserved for those who had been remotely hacked or were in danger of remote hacking. When they had gotten him here, Batou had been at a peak of vulnerability. He was probably better off now – it had been almost seven hours since she had taken down the reverse barriers.

She returned to her vigil, unwilling to go home and come back later. It was the least she could do to be there when he finally came back to functionality… and to be honest, the wish wasn't totally a sense of duty.

And so, she waited. It was nearly ten o'clock when he shifted and groaned. She blinked, glancing up to find his face turned toward her, eyebrows knit together. "Major?" he asked, as if not sure it was really her.

She nodded once. "You gave everyone quite a scare."

"Yeah," he replied, sitting up slowly and rubbing the back of his neck, "gave myself a scare too." He glanced at her. "Must have been quite something if you're telling me, though," he commented.

She smirked. "I couldn't connect with you even a minute after the attack. It was quite something."

He twisted to face her, concerned. "But you're alright?"

"Yes." She paused, eyes falling to the floor. "Thank you."

There was a pause; she could almost hear the room fill with silent replies, ghosts of paths they could take at this moment. He reached out, brushing a still smooth part of her dress with light fingers. "How long has it been? You haven't even changed."

"About eleven hours since the incident itself – a little more than ten since the firewall sent you on introverted…" She paused, something in the back of her mind suddenly remembering the moment she had come back to herself from the trace. A small voice insisted that she had missed something very important, and she trailed off, looking up at him.

Even without physical eyes, his face was very expressive, and the memory of being wrapped up in his ghost washed over her. Her mouth involuntarily opened in shock. Had he really…

"I'm sorry," he said suddenly, "I shouldn't have…"

He was supposed to be talking about the firewall, but they both knew that was a lie. She closed her mouth. "It's… all right. I only object because we should have been more careful – but given the circumstances," she stopped, meeting his eyes.

There was a long moment of silence, silent declarations and questions permeating the air. Then Batou sighed and looked away. "We are owned," he said, "the government's dogs…First and second in command." He paused. "I'll protect you, always, as much as I can hope to, anyway."

"I know," she replied softly. "So will I, as much as I can."

Tired, emotion laden silence fell as they brooded together; the closest they could permit themselves to be. She could have felt cold… maybe cried for what they couldn't have… but there was nothing to be done. She rose and turned to walk out, and in the same moment, he slid off the bed, half standing to grab her hand and pull her back.

"Motoko," he whispered, giving her half a moment to push him away, turn him back, anything – but she couldn't, and he covered her lips with his. She responded gently, sweetly, closing her eyes and resting the hand not captured by his palm down on his chest. His hand tightened, trying to feel every callus on her fingers- savor every sensation and commit it to memory because in a moment that's all it would be… a memory.

It came to an end like a dream, still lingering on the edges of their senses. He slowly let go of her hand. There would be no expectations… not in this lifetime. His eyes settled on her face, shocked to find tears there, but she blinked them away as she stepped away and turn back to the door. Half way out, she glanced back.

"Goodbye, Batou."

And she was gone. He sat down on the bed hard, staring at the white gloves she had left on the bed stand. A song from the next room filtered through the wall – soft and melodic as if to mock the words it spoke;

_Everything I tried to do it didn't matter_

_Now I might be better off just rolling over_

_'Cause you know I tried so hard, but couldn't change a thing_

_And it hurts so much I might as well let go…_

The gloves sparkled in the sunlight, white and pristine, and he didn't dare to touch them. When he finally got up to check himself out and go home – he left them. They were part of a memory that he wanted… but shouldn't have.

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_**FIN.

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**_

… **yeah. Blame one of my reviewers – they said 'tragic closeness' and the words just stuck. **

**The song that Batou hears at the end is from the second OST – 'What's it For?' sung by Emily Curtis. It fit so very well I couldn't do anything else.**

**I'd appreciate a review – but in any case I hope you enjoyed reading the darned thing. Thank you and good day.**


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